Tuesday, May 05, 2015

After artist Frida Kahlo died in 1954, her husband Diego Rivera shut her personal effects in a bathroom at their Mexico City home and stipulated it be locked until 15 years after his death. In 2004, fifty years after Kahlo's death, Japanese photographer Ishiuchi Miyako was invited to photograph Frida's wardrobe and belongings.

Kahlo’s right leg was thinner than her left after childhood polio – and it was later fractured in 11 places when she had a horrific bus accident in her 20s. As a result, she wore long, traditional Tehuana dresses that concealed her lower body

Kahlo’s leg was amputated in 1953. She designed this prosthetic leg with embroidered red lace-up boots and a bell attached

Frida is an exhibition of Miyako's photographs of some of the 300 unseen relics of Kahlo's life at Michael Hoppen gallery, London SW3, from 14 May to 12 July